Field
This application relates to server systems, and more particularly to a high density chassis for a server rack.
Background
Servers are typically arranged in one or more server racks. Each server rack can hold multiple pieces of rack-mountable units that are designed to fit in the server rack. Each rack-mountable unit is generally one of several standard dimensions measured in terms or a ‘rack unit.’ A rack unit, U or RU is a unit of measure used to describe the height of equipment intended for mounting in a 19-inch rack or a 23-inch rack. The 19-inch (48.26 cm) or 23-inch (58.42 cm) dimension refers to the width of the equipment-mounting frame in the rack, i.e., the width of the equipment that can be mounted inside the rack. A one rack unit (1U) is 1.75 inches (44.45 mm) high. The size of a piece of rack-mounted equipment is frequently described as a number in “U”. For example, a one rack unit is often referred to as “1U”, 2 rack units as “2U” and so on. Typical dimensions for a 1U unit are about 19 inches width (e.g., between 423 millimeters and 453 millimeters wide)×1.75 inches height (e.g., between 42 millimeters and 46 millimeters in height)×17.7 inches-21.5 inches depth.
Because the dimensions of a 1U rack-mountable chassis are fixed, the physical size of the hard-drives and the limitation of the storage capacity of each hard drive limit the total storage capacity in a traditional 1U chassis. The typical 19-inch 1U storage chassis can only fit ten storage devices of the 2.5 in width standard.